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Take 3 Urgent Actions for Immigrants

(From the Latin America Working Group) Over 250,000 Hondurans and Salvadorans receive protection from deportation and access to work in the United States under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. These are our classmates, co-workers, and neighbors. Current TPS for Salvadorans and Hondurans expires in January. Homeland Security Secretary Kelly has a few months left to decide if the program will be extended. Congressional Representatives McGovern (D-MA), Hultgren (R-IL), and Torres (D-CA) authored a bipartisan letter to Secretary Kelly, urging him to extend TPS for Hondurans and Salvadorans. Click HERE to call or send a letter to your representative asking him or her to sign on to the letter to Secretary Kelly.

(From the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Justice for Immigrants Campaign) The Dream Act of 2017 was recently introduced in the Senate as a bipartisan effort. It is intended to protect immigrant youth who entered the United States as children and know America as their only home. This bill would grant permanent legal status to more than 1 million young people, including 800,000 young people who received temporary relief from deportation and employment eligibility through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which President Trump vowed as a candidate to end. Texas and nine other states have threatened to sue if the administration doesn’t start phasing out the program by September 5. The young people the Dream Act of 2017 seeks to protect are contributors to our economy, academic standouts in our universities, and leaders in our parishes and communities. As Catholics, we have long supported the so-called “Dreamers” as we believe in protecting the dignity of every human being, especially that of our children. Click HERE to ask your members of Congress to vote "YES" on the Dream Act Bill.

Later this week, the House of Representatives is expected to vote on a “security minibus” budget package which includes $1.6 billion for additional fencing and wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Last April and again on July 25, we joined nearly 100 faith groups in letters to Congress detailing our opposition to border walls. Border walls destroy families, communities, and the Earth, and are too expensive and ineffective at addressing the root causes that compel migrants to leave their homes. On July 26, Bishop Joe Vásquez, chair of the U.S. Catholic Bishops Committee on Migration, sent a letter with a similar message to members of the House. Click HERE to tell your representative to vote “NO” on border wall funding.